Why is this still here?

A recovering trainspotter, occasional walker, and enthusiastic collector of obscure facts, I'm happiest following a forgotten road, an abandoned railway alignment, or an argument that's been running for a century or two. My interests tend towards infrastructure, topography, politics, architecture, music, and the ways people shape places (and vice versa).

Politically, I inhabit that awkward territory where small-l liberalism, old-fashioned conservatism and a healthy distrust of certainty continually argue with one another. I hold strong opinions, most of them provisional.

I like autumn, Glasgow, Indian food, Oxford commas, obscure books, and unexpected string quartets. I dislike pavement cycling, the peculiar modern habit of explaining flags by writing on them, and certainty presented as wisdom.

This website has existed in one form or another since the age of dial-up internet. Against all odds, it still does. It has survived several redesigns, abandoned content management systems and more than one identity crisis. It exists primarily as a place to collect thoughts, publish essays and record walks. If anyone else finds any of it interesting, that's a welcome bonus.